--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Grant, Heber J. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 18 number: 10 published: 1915-08 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Heber J. Grant, "Testimony—The Little White Slaver," *Improvement Era* 18, no. 10 (August 1915): 908–913.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera18010unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera18010unse start_page: 908 end_page: 913 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1915-08) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera18010unse publication_year: 1915 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1915, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Testimony—The Little White Slaver Testimony— The Little White Slaver BY HEBER J. GRANT I earnestly hope that the time I may occupy may be for our mutual benefit. I would not willingly say anything to detract in the least from the splendid things we have heard, from the start of this conference until the present time. The Lord has .indeed been good to us in all of our meetings, and I have rejoiced in hav- ing representatives shake hands with me and say, "this has been the best mutual conference that we have ever had." From my early manhood I have heard this remark made time and time again with reference to our general conferences, and I am always grateful, whenever I hear it, because it brings to me the convic- tion that the inspiration of the Lord has been present at our con- ferences, and that the word of God, through his servants and handmaidens, has found an echo in the hearts of those present so that they have in very deed been fed the bread of life. While it was a surprise to our dear Aunt Emmeline B. Wells to speak here tonight, the moment she came into the meeting, I am sure that more than one of us felt that she was entitled to say something upon this occasion. As she has told us, there are few remaining who were personally acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith, and to me there is nothing that I more appreciate than the testimonies borne by Aunt Em and others who were acquainted with the Prophet Joseph, who knew him, listened to his testimony from his own lips, and who did not have to take it second-handed. I am grateful for the knowledge that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world, and that Joseph Smith is his prophet and that we possess, in very deed, the plan of life and ; salvation. It is always a source of joy and satisfaction, however, notwithstanding the revelations of the Holy Spirit to me of the divinity of this work and of the mission of the Prophet, to hear the testimony of men and women whom I have known all my life to be honest, pure and upright, bearing testimony of their own individual acquaintance and knowledge of the life and labors of the Prophet Joseph. I cannot remember when I did not know Sister Wells. My mother was the president of the Thirteenth Ward Relief Soci- *From the closing- address of President Heber J. Grant, M. I. A. conference, June 13, 1915. TESTIMONY— THE LITTLE WHITE SLAVER 909 etv for over thirty years and Aunt : Km was associated with her as one of the officers of that association until she was promoted to be one of the general officers. The testimony she has borne to you tonight, that when Sidney Rigdon was trying to be appointed 1 guardian for the Church, or, to mit it in plain English, trying to steal the whole Church, that God saw fit to manifest to the people who was to be the successor of Joseph Smith, by causing Brigham Young to speak with the voice, power, and inspiration of Joseph, and to be transformed, in the eves of those who saw him, to look like the Proohet. I have heard mv own dear mother bear this tes- timony, time and time again. I have heard it from the lins of men and women, than whom no more honest, virtuous, uorieht peoole ever drew the breath of life. While we do not know bv actual experience that testimonies regarding the divinitv of this work, have been given to us bv those who were blessed with the inspiration of Almighty Cod. vet thev are strengthening to our faith. They cause jov and satisfaction, and are ever sweet to our ears. Testimonies like that borne to us here tonight bv Aunt Em are in verv deed the bread of life to the young Latter-dav Saints, who have not an absolute knowledge for themselves. To them ^ testimonies of this kind are calculated to insnire within them a desire to seek for light, for an individual knowledge, or testimony for themselves, regarding the divinitv of this great latter-dav work. And I have no doubt whatever, that all who seek will find. So far as the faith of the voung Latter-dav Saints are con- cerned, it is my belief that, in proportion to the numbers of voung men and women in the Church who are living up to the three great principles referred to here todav bv Elder Junius F. Wells: namely, prayer to God, observance of the Word of Wisdom, and the word of God in the holy Scriotures. that there the studying of is more adherence to these doctrines todav among the Latter-day Saints than there was, pro rata, forty years ago when these asso- ciations were organized. People not of our faith may believe that the youth of Zion can be converted from the faith of their mothers, but I exoect them to be disanoomted. fathers and their Some of our young people will fall bv the wayside, but in my roll round, many who heart I have a firmbelief that, as the years and indifferent todav. who. because of a little learn- are careless places, may aoparentlv have ing secured in colleges and other the providences of the Lord will return to the drifted awav, in fold Why? Because there has been implanted in the hearts ot young women of this Church love of the 'young men and the the foundation upon God and 'love of virtue; and with virtue as boys and these girls to come back which to build, I expect these to us. As I listened to the splendid though brief address of Mr. Dale, today, and heard of the work being accomplished by - the boy scouts, and of how he said he stood up in his graduation class and told how he expected to solve the problems of the world, T naturally reflected that there are many of our young people who are in that condition. Like him, however, they afterwards learn that they are to solve problems within themselves, and to discover, as he had the follies and the failures, and to see things correctly, within himself. I remember reading of an aged professor say- ing to his class, "There are none of us perfect, not even the youngest." I believe that with a firm foundation of virtue, love of God, and a prayerful desire to do right, such as is implanted in the hearts of the children of Zion, sooner or later those who may have drifted away will return also that there are today a greater ; number, in proportion to the population, who are faithful, diligent, and are serving God, than there has ever before been in the Church. As a whole, fewer things that we are commanded to let alone, are being partaken of by the Latter-dav Saints than ever before and I believe that the time is coming when those who ; do not obey, in verv deed, the Word of Wisdom, will not stand as leaders among this people, local, or in the stakes, or as the general authorities. So far as I know, all of the general authori- ties of the Church are observers of the Word of Wisdom. It is a source of disappointment to me that I have not been able to announce to the delegates representing the young men, from all parts of the country where we have organized stakes of Zion, to call at the Era office at the close of this conference and accept, with the compliments of the General Board, a copy of a little pamphlet, which I hold in my hand, entitled, The Case Against the Little White Slaver. I was authorized to wire Mr. Henrv Ford for a thousand copies to be given to our delegates, but the books have not arrived. They may arrive today. If so, we will be pleased to have delegates call at the Era office tomor- row, and secure this pamphlet. The book is an attack— I don't — know that I need to use the word "attack" it is a statement of facts against the cigarette. The president of the Grpqf \merican Tobacco Company challenged Mr. Ford for having gotten out an interview against the cigarette, and he wrote a long letter, a year ago, demanding that a retraction be made, and the retraction contains some of the facts that condemn the cigarette from A to Z. It has a statement and a photograph of the great inventor, Thomas A. Edison, who announces that he does not emplov any person who smokes cigarettes. This is a day of efficiency. Manv of the greatest manufacturing institutions in the United States, and many of the great railroads will not, under anv circumstance 5 , employ a bov or a man who uses cigarettes. Mr. Hill, who stands at the head of the tobacco trust, says, among other things, that TESTIMONY—THE LITTLE WHiTE SLAVER 911 one of the reasons why we ought to believe that cigarettes are all right is that there has been a wonderful increase in the number made. But that only shows that men are using more of the arti- cles that are detrimental to their bodily health. He says the in- crease in cigarette smoking in the United States, in recent years, is shown by figures. In 1900, two billion six hundred thousand cigarettes were made in this country; and in 1913, fifteen billion eight hundred million cigarettes were made, an increase of seven hundred per cent. So far as we are concerned as Latter-day Saints, I believe there has been no such increase among us. Mr. Ford's secretary defends the interview given out by — Henry Ford against the cigarette because he is the man who gave it out. I think he has succeeded admirably in defending Mr. Ford's position. In his reply to Mr. Hill he alludes to the fact that one of the magistrates in New York, where Mr. Hill resides, declares that ninety-nine per cent of the boys between the ages of ten and seventeen years who come before him chargd with crime have their fingers disfigured by cigarette stain. Mr. Edison, in his statement, announces that the effect upon the brain is to de- stroy its activity and power; that there is a poison in the paper that works against the brain of man. A gentleman, for thirty years engaged in teaching shorthand, says: "I have yet to discover among the thousands of young men whom I have in my classes, a single instance where a young man who became a slave to the cigarette habit, during my years of experience, who has been able to develop into more than a third or fourth rate stenographer. The effects of the cigarette habit ap- pears to be such that it is utterly impossible for those addicted to it to become first-class stenographers, although in many cases I have known such young men to struggle heroically to fit them- selves to do high grade stenographic work." Prof. Fred J. Pack, of the University of Utah, has compiled a great many statistics upon this subject. Of sixty-two colleges and universities making tests, it is shown that of a total of two hundred ten men tested for positions on the athletic teams, of the non-smokers 65.8 per cent were successful; of the smokers, only 33.3 per cent were successful. journeys he Dr. Pack has announced that in the geological has taken with the boys over the mountains, no boy who is a ci- reached the top of the mountain with the boy garette smoker ever when the who left this thing alone. On more than one occasion, was a long and steady effort, it would be the boy who was test addicted to the cigarette habit who failed. In the Literary Digest of last June, it was said that for ntty Harvard University, no man who had used to- long years in the bacco had ever graduated at the head of his class. _ Trulythe Lord inspired Joseph Smith, when he said that to- : : : : " bacco was not good for man, but was an herb for sick cattle. The Strength of Being Clean,by David Starr Jordan, is a vin- dication of the inspiration of the Lord to Joseph Smith, in giving to the world this revelation called the Word of Wisdom. Mr. H. Wiley, chief of the Federal Bureau of Chemistry, at Washington, says "I commend Mr. Ford in this thing, and all people who join in the efforts to curtail or restrict, obliterate or destroy, the pernicious habit of cigarette smoking. The use of cigarettes is very injurious to the heart and nerves of all who smoke them, especially boys of tender years, or women who smoke because they think the practice is smart. The effect may not be so great upon people of mature years, but in any cases, no matter how old a man or woman is, smoking cigarettes is harmful, and strikes a direct blow at the most vital organ of the body. It weakens the heart's action, the engine of the physical frame of man. Destroy the engine, and what good is an automobile or any other piece of machinery? Destroy the heart, and what good is the balance of the machinery? For this reason, it is difficult for the ci- garette adict to engage in athletics. He finds he is easily winded, and is lacking in endurance, and soon loses all ambition to engage in sports, or, in fact, in any useful occupation, associating with others of his kind, and soon ends up in the pool room, reform school or pen- itentiary. estimated that 96 per cent of our youthful criminals It is are cigarette adicts. The boy with a weakened heart is more apt to succumb to typhoid fever or other acute disease. The cigarette in- jures the boy morally. He is almost as difficult to impress as the cocaine fiend. Mike Donovan, who for thirty years has been the ath- letic director of the New York Athletic Club, >says: 'Any boy who smokes can never hope to succeed in any line of endeavor, as smok- ing weakens the heart and lungs and ruins the stomach, and affects the entire nervous system. If a boy or young man expects to amount to anything in athletics, he must let smoking and all kinds of liquor alone. They are rank poison to his athletic ambition.' Mr. Hall, in his letter to Mr. Ford, says "There is nothing injurious in the paper with which cigarettes are made." Mr. Patterson, of Georgia, replies "Several years ago I stepped into a grocery story and asked to buy a package of cigarette papers such as were given away at that time with Durham smoking tobacco. took two small bottles. In I one of these bottles I placed fifteen of these cigarette papers, and in the other an equal thickness of tissue paper. I found that a few drops from the bottle containing the cigarette papers would kill a mouse quicker than you could say Jack Robinson, while a teaspoonful from the other bottle would simply cause another mouse to fight in self- defense." Others have tried the experiment with the same results. Mr. Mack, a name familiar to all baseball people, says "It is my candid opinion that boys of the age of ten to fifteen, who have contracted the habit of smoking cigarettes, do not as a rule amount to anything. They are enfeebled in every way for any kind TESTIMONY— THE LITTLE WHITE SLAVER 913 of work where brains are needed. No boy or man can expect to suc- ceed in this world to a high position who contracts the use of cigar- ettes." Dr. John A. Widtsoe has also shown how the scientific world has proved the truth of the claim that Joseph Smith was inspired in his teachings of the Word of Wisdom. I rejoice when I read books commending and upholding the doctrines of God that have come to us through his inspired servants. It has fallen to my lot, although I only ran across this little pamphlet, The Case Against the Little White Slaver, a few weeks ago, to distribute three hundred copies of it, and I expect to dis- tribute more. The gospel of Jesus Christ brings joy, peace, happiness, contentment, and an abiding faith that we shall meet our Re- deemer. May God help us, as young men and young women, to be loyal to it, to be true to the faith of our fathers. O how I re- joice when I hear that beautiful hymn of the pioneers, "And should we die before our journey's through, Happy day! all is well! We then are free from toil and sorrow too; With the just we shall dwell." I regret that the people sat down this morning, after singing three verses of the hymn. I never want to hear that hymn in any verse, expressing that sublime public gathering without that last if they prayer, faith, and integrity that our fathers had, that even died, all was well! May we, the youth of Israel, be worthy of observing such fathers and mothers by discarding all evil and by and other laws of God, is my prayer, the Word of Wisdom, all and I ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen. The Lesson for the Day president in Indiana, George Ade says that when a certain college chapel at the begin- a clemyman was addressing the students in the b ^&lTiZ^y£™tlk tha. trouble ^.--Lipplnc...',.